Bureau serves public well

Sunday

Sep 30, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Robert Nemeth

It is regrettable that The Research Bureau, the city’s foremost source of public information and independent data-gathering, has come under attack. It is even more unfortunate that some of the sniping comes from members of the City Council who should appreciate the value of the work the bureau has contributed in the last quarter of a century.

The bureau is a nonprofit, nonpartisan private organization that conducts research, publishes reports and sponsors forums on public policy issues central to local government and the public school system. The reports are posted on the city’s website, and some of the events have been aired on Worcester’s government cable channel, Channel 12.

Even though that practice has been in place all along, District 3 Councilor George J. Russell decided to question the arrangement. There have been hints about bias and partiality by the bureau. Mr. Russell filed an ordinance, co-sponsored by nine of his colleagues, requesting that the city solicitor explain how The Research Bureau is constituted legally and whether it was a lobbying or public interest group.

In his response, City Solicitor David Moore defined lobbying as “any act to promote, oppose, influence or attempt to influence legislation, including the governor’s approval or veto of legislation” or an “attempt to influence the decision of any officer or employee of the executive branch or authority.”

Mr. Moore concluded: “Addressing the City Council on ordinary matters of local concern is not considered ‘lobbying’ under state law. Researching and reporting on the organization, activities, finances and administrative or operational problems of the city by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau would not, in my opinion, be classified as ‘lobbying’ under state law.”

The bureau says its mission is “to instruct the public on organization, activities, finances and administrative or operational problems of the City of Worcester through nonpartisan, nonpolitical, and impartial research and through the publication and dissemination the results of research to the general public and public officials.”

Coinciding with the council inquiry was a convoluted and vituperative attack on The Research Bureau in a local weekly publication by former City Councilor Gary Rosen. Calling the bureau staff “knuckleheads,” he questioned the quality and value of the bureau’s work, asserting that “most city councilors don’t even read let alone discuss” the reports. (If that is true, it would explain why the council would pass such an ill-advised and most likely illegal measure as the pro-union Responsible Employee Ordinance, the harmful effects of which were outlined in one of the reports.)

For the benefit of skeptics, it might be helpful to recall the history of the bureau. Proposition 2-½ in 1980 forced the city to eliminate all research capabilities, never to reinstate them again. In 1985, charter reform modified Plan E council-manager form of government, creating a hybrid system that provided for the election of a mayor without executive power as well as district representation in the City Council. Members of the business community, several of them previously involved with the Citizen Plan E Association — a private group formed to support the charter, monitor city government and furnish relevant information — were seeking another entity to play a similar role. They raised $40,000 to serve as the first-year budget of a new organization, and the Worcester Municipal Research Bureau was incorporated on May 7, 1985. Roberta Schaefer was appointed to head the bureau, and she set up shop in a former storage space made available at Assumption College rent-free. The name and location have changed over the years, but the mission has remained the same. The 85-member board of directors represents a cross-section of the community.

Among the business and civic leaders who founded the bureau were Fairman Cowan, Paul and Philip Morgan, Robert Bowditch, Robert Cushman, John Hunt, Norman Sharfman, and others. Those names may not mean much to Mr. Russell and his colleagues today, but in their days those individuals made the community a better place for all.

Over the years, the bureau has earned respect, credibility and national recognition for providing high-quality, independent research and analysis of public policy on a wide variety of topics. To date, it has issued 175 reports and 27 annual reports. The bureau’s annual Thomas S. Green Award, established to recognize outstanding public employees, has honored 91 recipients thus far. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation from 2001 through 2007, the bureau’s Center of Community Performance Measurement used advanced technology to conduct targeted research and benchmarking on various aspects of community life.

Among other accomplishments, the bureau’s work has played a key role in adjusting public employee contributions to health insurance premiums, saving tens of millions of dollars and rescuing the city from a budget meltdown.

Being an independent, nonprofit and tax-exempt entity, the bureau doesn’t advocate course of action. It presents the facts, offers the pros and cons on a given issue, and then summarizes conclusions. When those conclusions are unfavorable to certain interests, such as self-serving politicians or organized labor, they generate animosity and attacks.

While the Research Bureau is a private endeavor, as it should be to preserve its independence, it is closely affiliated with local government. It is logical to air its public-interest programs on the city’s TV channel.